LONDON: The British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) media expertise will greatly benefit Kuwait Television's news division , especially following the announcement of a decision to launch a new satellite Kuwaiti news channel, said a senior Kuwaiti media official on Friday evening.

Following a meeting with senior BBC officials, Yousef Mustafa, the Assistant Undersecretary of News and Current Affairs at Kuwait's Ministry of Information, told KUNA that the talks had focused on working closely with the globally renowned broadcasting corporation, which will provide consultancy services, as well as training and development programs for Kuwait Television's news and current affairs personnel, along with all the necessary media expertise to ensure the success of the new Kuwaiti news and current affairs channel.

Amongst the other high-level officials attending the meeting were Jackie Chambers' the director of the BBC's Training and Development Program, Mia Costello, representing the BBC Training Academy, and Khalid Abdullah, the head of the BBC's International Cooperation Department and director of Business Development for the Middle East and West Asia.

During his visit, Mustafa found out more about the BBC's training and development programs and courses in a diverse range of areas, including strategic planning and management, programming, technology skills, TV production, and news editing.

The senior Kuwaiti official also expressed enthusiasm about finding out more about the BBC's training courses on presenting financial and sports-related news and current affairs programming in order to advance the skills of Kuwaiti journalists and editors working in these areas.

He also suggested that organizing training programs to enhance the leadership skills of the Kuwait TV news and current affairs division's managers and department heads should be another area of focus. Mustafa concluded by revealing that both the Kuwaiti and British officials had agreed to continue with an exchange of visits and to organize a number of training courses and workshops to serve the best interests of Kuwait's news and current affairs sector. - KUNA